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AMIGANTT
Project Management Tool
Version 3.00.00
Program Description
July 31, 1989
AMIGANTT
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Purpose of the software
1.2 Features of AMIGANTT
1.3 Restrictions
1.4 Installing the software
2.0 Creating a Project
2.1 Main Screen
2.2 Menu Options
2.2.1 Project Menu
2.2.2 Window Menu
2.2.3 Task Menu
2.2.4 Print Menu
2.2.5 Sort Menu
2.2.6 Misc Menu
2.3 Adding the Project Header
2.4 Adding Tasks
2.4.1 Adding another project as a task
2.5 Modifying Tasks
2.6 Deleting Tasks
2.7 Saving the Project
3.0 Printing a Project
3.1 Printing the Screen
3.2 Printing the Project
3.2.1 Gantt Chart
3.2.2 Task List & Summary
3.2.3 Resource Summary
3.2.4 Resource Histogram
4.0 Modifying Existing Projects
4.1 Loading the Project
4.2 Changing the Header Information
4.2.1 Conversion of Costs/Durations
5.0 Enhancements for version 3.00.00 of AmiGantt
and known anomolies
AMIGANTT -- Project Management Software
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Purpose of the software
AmiGantt was designed to create a simple, interactive method of
outlining the tasks required to complete a particular project, using
the GANTT chart as the input format.
There are other programs in the microcomputer world using a similar
interface, but none that I could find for the Amiga) and none that
had the range of project flexibility I thought a manager would need.
Many project management systems systems tend to be rather 'batch'
oriented and require a fair amount of task and resource planning before
you ever get to the computer screen. The intent with AMIGANTT was to
provide a simple, easy-to-use tool for tracking of tasks, their
duration, and their resources.
Because I'm most familiar with the top-down approach to project
definition -- where the major tasks are broken down to finer
and finer levels of description to very simple activities -- it was
decided to build the primary interface around a GANTT chart. In this
way, the tasks already entered can be viewed at all times as subsequent
levels of detail are added.
AMIGANTT can run on any Amiga computer (500, 1000, or 2000) under
Workbench 1.2 and above(!!). Although it can run without it, the
ARP library should be installed in the LIBS: directory before using
AmiGantt.
1.2 Features of AmiGantt
- utilizes a top-down approach to project definition, based on a GANTT
chart interface
- written to make maximum use of the Amiga, it utilizes an
Intuition-based interface with drop-down menus and Amiga-key
replacements to select functions.
- displays the project in a multi-window mode with separate windows
for the Gantt Chart, task information input, resource histogram
display and Pert Chart display
- AmiGantt is well behaved in the multi-processing mode and should have
no problem working with other programs.
- can be run from either Workbench, via the supplied icon or directly
from CLI. Users running the program from CLI can optionally
provide the name of the input project file they wish to work on.
AMIGANTT also optionallly creates icons for each project saved,
which allows Workbench users to directly enter the project simply
by double-clicking its icon. With version 3.00.00 and above,
a menu selection is provided so the user may have AmiGantt
generate or not generate icons for saved projects.
- AmiGantt will notify the user of low-memory situations and provide a
graceful exit. It uses a dynamic-memory allocation scheme so that
only enough space is taken to hold the tasks defined for the
project. As tasks are deleted from the project, AMIGANTT will
free the memory allocated to them.
- up to 500 tasks may be defined for any project and a project may
contain other projects as tasks (e.g. sub-projects)
- text-only entries may be defined to provide headings to help separate
major tasks, or to provide additional description on the Gantt
chart
- Milestone tasks may be defined to identify reaching certain points
in the project. Milestones can be tied to a particular date or
dependant on other tasks.
- the calendar and task fields may be scrolled separately to allow
viewing of any part of the Gantt Chart
- the project format may be displayed as daily, weekly or monthly with
conversion routines between each format
- sub-projects are also automatically converted
- any task in the project (except headers) may be dependent
(cannot start until the first is finished) on up to
10 other tasks
- calculated dependencies are supported, so the user may define that
a task begins 5 days after the end of another task or 2 months
before the beginning of another task.
- can store planned and actual durations of tasks
- up to 10 resources may be defined for each task
- costs for each resource may be uniquely defined in each task
- costs for each resource may defined as 'fixed' (do not change
with the duration of the task) or 'variable' (change with
with the duration of the task)
- costs and resources are retained to aid in the adding of new
tasks
- task start dates may float based on other task dependencies or the
project start date, or a start date may be specified
- tasks may optionally have an 'ending date' attached which will
become the latest end date for the task. This allows tasks to
include a 'float' period if this end date is beyond the time
needed for the task.
- printouts available include
- Screen image
- Gantt Chart
- Resource Histogram
- Resource Summary
- Task Listing (Detail)
- Task Summary
- printouts may be aborted by pressing the ESC key at any time.
- printouts for the Gantt Chart, Resource Histogram, and Pert Chart
may be printed in Graphic bitmap mode or in text mode, depending
on the characteristics of the printer.
- using the Amiga Preferences program, graphics printouts may be
printed horizontally or vertically.
1.3 Restrictions of AmiGantt
NOTE -- These are restrictions placed on version 3.00.00 of AMIGANTT. They
may be removed in subsequent releases of the software.
- 500 tasks per project
- 10 dependent tasks per task
- 10 resources per task
- task descriptions are limited to 30 characters each
- resource descriptions are limited to 15 characters each
- resource cost per unit (day/week/ or month) cannot exceed $9999.99
1.4 Installing the software
AmiGantt consists of a single program file, called AMIGANTT, which can
be placed anywhere the user desires. In most cases, installation will
simply consist of copying this file into the desired directory.
WorkBench users may simply drag the AmiGantt icon included on the
diskette to the desired drawer.
Project files created by AmiGantt are placed according to the user's
wishes and hence, may also be located on any convenient disk volume.
It can be run from either CLI or Workbench and an icon file has been
provided for the latter (appropriately enough, called AmiGantt.info).
The icon file should be copied to the same directory as the AmiGantt
program.
Verson 3.00.000 of AmiGantt and above make use of some of the
features provided by the ARP library (AmigaDos Replacement Program)
such as the file requestor and the CLI startup processing. In
order to support these features, version 34 of the ARP library
must be installed in the LIBS directory of your system disk. A
copy of this library, called arp.library is provided on the disk.
This file should be copied to LIBS: and your Amiga re-booted before
using AmiGantt 3.00.00.
AmiGantt -- Project Management Software
2.0 Creating a Project
2.1 Main Screen
When the program is first started, the first thing the user will see
is the Main Screen of AmiGantt. The screen shows a blank task list
and calendar area.
______________________________________________________________________________
|7| AmiGantt 3.00.00 | | |
Apr'88 11111 11222 22222 May'88 1111 11112 22222 33
___ 12345 89012 56789 23456 90123 67890 34567
|*|1 Task descriptions ^
|*|2 |
|*|3 Date Calendar
|*|4
|*|5
| |6
| |7
| |8
| |9
| |10
| |11
| |12
| |13 <--- Task numbers
| |14
| |15
| |16
| |17
| |18 Date scroll gadget
| |19 |
| |20 |
| | |
| |<-- Task scroll gadget _______________________|__________________________
|_|________________________|_________________________________________________|
2.1 Main Screen (Cont'd)
The Calendar on the main screen is defaulted to the daily format and
will begin on the Monday previous to or on the current system date --
which is usually today. The top left corner of this screen will
display the version number of AmiGantt.
Below the title line is the main body of the AmiGantt Gantt Chart.
The numbers on the left side of the screen are the task numbers for
each of the lines in the Gantt Chart. These numbers are used as
reference in AmiGantt and should be used when describing dependencies
between tasks. Immediately to the right of the numbers is where a
portion of the text description of each task will be displayed. Have
no fear, the full task description is provided on all printed output.
To the right of the descriptions will appear the task duration bars,
showing when the task occurs on the calendar. In some cases, tasks may
extend beyond the right side of the screen or may even start on a date
beyond the right edge. To view the task pointers for these, the date-
slider gadget at the bottom of the screen may be used to shift the
calendar 'window' to the right or left. You can also shift the
calendar display left and right 1 week at a time using the right and
left cursor keys. Note though, that the calendar will not shift beyond
the project starting or ending dates.
CURRENT TASK --
The orange block shown in the task area highlights the 'current task'.
Any task operation, such as add, modify, or delete will operate on this
highlighted 'current task'. The current task may be changed by either
moving the highlight block up or down using the cursor positioning keys;
or by placing the mouse pointer anywhere in the description field of
the desired task and pressing the left mouse button.
You can scroll the task numbers in the display using the task scroll
gadget at the left of the screen. It is possible to scroll the current
task off the displayed portion of the screen. AmiGantt keeps track of
the current task though, and will highlight it when it appears on
the screen again.
If you use the cursor positioning keys to select the current task, the
task display will automatically scroll up or down (if possible) when
you hit the top or bottom of the display -- in order to keep the
current task visible.
2.2 Menu Options
As with any good Amiga program, AmiGantt functions are selected using
the drop-down menus displayed when the right mouse button is pressed.
There are six sets of menus available in AmiGantt: The PROJECT menu,
WINDOW menu, TASK menu, PRINT menu, SORT menu, and the MISC menu. The
various functions available in AmiGantt are logically collected under
these menus and are described below. For those users more comfortable
on the keyboard, there are Amiga-key replacements for the major
options.
2.2.1 Project Menu
This menu deals with functions that affect the entire project that is
being worked on. It also includes some information about AmiGantt and
the ability to quit the program. Each of the options found in this
menu are described below.
Load Project (Amiga L)
To continue work on an already defined and saved project file,
select Load Project and then fill in the name of the project file
to be loaded into AmiGantt. More information on saving and loading
of project files is provided in section 2.6 of this manual.
Save Project (Amiga S)
Save Project allows the user to save the latest contents of the
project to a file on disk. If a previous project was Loaded into
AmiGantt for modification, Save will assume you want to use the same
file name again and will prompt to ask if it's OK to wipe out the
existing project file. If no file was previously loaded, Save will
prompt the user to provide a suitable name for the project to be
stored on disk and to write out the project tasks to that file.
This file may then be loaded back into AmiGantt at any time (see
Load Project above) for revision or update.
Save As
This option allows the user to save the project to disk by directly
asking for the file name he/she wishes to use. Again, if need be,
AmiGantt will prompt to ask if it's all right to overwrite an existing
file.
New Project (Amiga N)
By selecting New Project, the user can remove all tasks from
the project and start with a clean slate.
Info
Selecting this option from the Project menu will display a window
with the current version number of AmiGantt and some information on
how to get in touch with the author.
Quit (Amiga Q)
Selecting the Quit option from the Project Menu allows the user
to leave AmiGantt. The same action may be accomplished by hitting the
close window gadget at the top left of the Task (or Gantt) Window.
If there were changes to the project and it has not been saved lately,
AmiGantt will notify the user that changes to the project may be lost
and will give the option to go back into AmiGantt and Save the
project before exiting. Selecting the Cancel gadget in the 'Want to
Leave?' requestor will return the user to normal AmiGantt main screen
with the option to select the Save or Save As menu options.
If the user wishes to ignore the changes made to the project, he
should select the OK gadget from the requestor.
2.2.2 Window Menu
AmiGantt contains three main windows for display of the task
information provided for a project. They are: a) the Gantt (or Main)
window, b) the Resource Window, and c) the Pert Window.
Pert Chart
When this function is selected, AmiGantt will open an additional
window which will display the real-time updated Pert or Network chart
for the project. Along the bottom of the window is a date scroll
gadget which can be used to change the range of dates shown. The dates
shown in the window can also be changed a week at a time using the
right and left cursor positioning keys.
In later versions of AmiGantt, the user will be able to interact with
this window as well to change the dependencies and interconnection of
tasks within the project.
Resource Histogram
As with the Pert Chart function above, selection of this option will
cause AmiGantt to open an additional window which will display the
current resource allocation for the project in histogram format. The
Resource Window function will also open a Legend Window which displays
the pattern used in the histograms for each of the project resources
used within the time period shown in the window.
Along the bottom of the window is a date scroll gadget which can be
used to change the range of dates shown. The dates shown in the window
can also be changed a week at a time using the right and left cursor
positioning keys.
The windows have all the usual gadgets assigned so that they may be
moved or resized. There are no menus assigned to either of the
windows, but they may be closed by clicking on the close-window gadget
in the top left corner.
2.2.3 Task Menu
Functions in this menu allow the user to define, delete, and modify
the tasks contained within a project. It also allows him/her to
modify the default header information created for each project.
NOTE (again) It is STRONGLY URGED THAT THE USER FIRST SET UP THE
PROJECT HEADER by selecting the Modify Header option from this menu
before proceeding with the addition of new tasks. See section 2.3
of this manual regarding the addition (modification) of the project
header.
Add Task (Amiga A)
This option is selected to add new tasks to a given project.
More information on adding a task is provided in section 2.4 of
this document. It should be noted, though, that AmiGantt works
on an 'insert before' mode of task addition. In other words, if
the current task block is on a task number that has no description
for it and Add Task is selected, AmiGantt will add that task
number. If the current task block is positioned over a task number
that does have a description and Add Task is selected, then
AmiGantt will push all the tasks at the cursor position and below,
down one line on the screen and insert the new task at that
position. Again, more information on this will be provided in
section 2.4.
Delete Task (Amiga D)
The user can remove a task by setting the current task block over a
task description and selecting Delete Task. Before actually
removing the task, AmiGantt will present the entire task
description and give the user the option to gracefully back out.
If you really want to remove the task, select the OK gadget at the
bottom left of the task window. If you thing better of it and want to
keep the task, select the CANCEL gadget at the bottom right of the
window.
Modify Task (Amiga M)
By setting the current task block over a previously defined task, and
selecting Modify Task, the task fields are presented for changes. When
the desired changes have been made, click on the OK gadget at the
bottom left of the task window. If you change your mind and don't
want to make any changes to the task, click on the CANCEL gadget at
the bottom right.
Move Task
NOTE -- This option is not available in version 3.00.00 of AmiGantt.
When functioning, it will allow the user to pick up a task and move
it to another place in the Gantt Chart listing.
Modify Header (Amiga H)
Each project contains a 'header' that contains global information
about the project. More information about the header information
is contained in section 2.3 of this manual. Selecting Modify Header
allows the user to view and modify this global information.
IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT THIS OPTION BE SELECTED FIRST
WHEN STARTING A NEW PROJECT -- BEFORE PUTTING IN ANY TASKS.
2.2.4 Print Menu
This menu allows the user to select various options for output of
reports from AmiGantt. During the operation of these options, the
mouse pointer image will change to that of a printer with PIP (Print In
Progress) at the bottom. This is to remind the user that AmiGantt
will not process any other functions until the printing is complete.
At any time during the printing process, the user can cancel the
printout by pressing the ESC key on the keyboard.
Output to...
When selected, this option presents a sub-menu with two further
options. It allows the user to select whether print output should be
routed to the PRT: (Preferences Printer) device or to a file on disk.
The options are mutually exclusive and operational for all output from
AmiGantt.
If output to a file is selected, a file requestor window will be
presented, asking the user for the name of a file in which to store
the output reports.
Just a note here -- Output to a file will not prompt if the
file already exists (this will be added in a later release) so
selection of a second report will wipe out the first.
Print Type
When selected, this option presents a sub-menu with two further
options. It allows the user to select whether print output should be
of a 'textual' type (using normal ASCII characters to generate the
Gantt, Pert, and Resource reports) or a Graphic Bit-Map type (where
an graphical image of the Gantt, Pert, and Resource charts, similar
to the display on each of the windows but without the gadgets).
The options are mutually exclusive and operational for all output from
AmiGantt.
Print Screen
As would be expected by the description, selecting this option with
the Output to... option set to PRT: will cause a screen 'dump' of what
is currently being displayed to be routed to the user's default
printer. If the Output to... option is set to file, AmiGantt will
create an IFF file for each of the windows (Gantt, Resources, and Pert)
that are being displayed at the time. As the files are being created,
each window will be brought to the front of the display as it is being
saved.
Print Project
Selection of this option causes AmiGantt to generate a complete
printout of the entire project, including Gantt charts, task listings,
resource histograms and the Pert Chart. More information regarding the
project printouts is provided in section 3.2 of this manual.
Print Tasks
Selecting this option provides printouts of the Task Summary and
complete Task List of the Project. Examples of these two reports
are provided in section 5 of this document.
Print Resources
This option prints out the Resource Histogram and Project Summary.
More information on these project reports and examples are found in
sections 3.2 and 5.0 of this manual.
Print Gantt Chart
Selecting this option provides the user with just a printout of the
project Gantt Chart, similar to the display on the main screen.
Print Pert Chart
This option will print out the network chart of the project.
2.2.5 Sort Menu
By selecting any of these options, the tasks in the project will be
sorted and re-ordered in the display according to the criteria
selected.
Sort by Starting Date
In this option, the tasks will be sorted and displayed in
ascending order of each task's earliest starting date. Headers
and Milestones are placed at the end of the task list.
Sort by Competion Date
Here, the tasks are sorted and displayed in ascending order of the
latest ending date of each task. As with the sort by Starting
Date, Headers and Milestones are placed at the end of the task
list.
Sort by Critical Path
In this option, AmiGantt will examine the list of tasks and determine
those that form the Critical Path through the project. For AmiGantt,
the Critical Path is defined as the set of tasks that form a continuous
path from the begining to the end of the project. If there are
multiple paths, the one with the longest duration is taken as the
Critical Path. The tasks in the Critical Path are then floated to the
top of the task display. The order of other tasks is maintained and
they are displayed below the last task in the Critical Path.
2.2.6 Misc Menu
Options on this menu allow the user to select whether AmiGantt will
automatically create icons for projects that are saved. The user can
also select whether AmiGantt identifies tasks on the Critical Path by
changing the colour of their bars in the Gantt Chart.
2.3 Adding the Project Header (Modify Header from Task Menu)
As mentioned in section 2.1, each project contains a 'header' which
holds certain global information about the project. The types of
information stored in the header are:
a) a description of the project
b) the start date of the project and
c) the type of calendar used in the project (it can be daily,
weekly or monthly)
When Modify Header is selected from the Task Menu, AmiGantt will
present the Header Modification window and allow the user to modify
these global values.
If you are just starting out in a new project, the fields displayed
here will be set up with some initial default values. The Description
fields will be blank, the Project Start Date will be set to the
current system date, and the Calendar will be set to 'D' for Daily
format.
If a previously defined project was loaded using the Load Project
selection from the Project Menu (see section 4.1), then these fields
will display the values retrieved from the project file.
DESCRIPTION -
The Project Description field consists of 3 lines of 40 characters
each in which you may place any descriptive information you wish about
the project. Since the first line of the description will be used as
title for the project and will be displayed in the top line of the
Main Screen, it is suggested that this first line contain some sort of
appropriate title for the project as a whole.
The Description field will accept any characters, alpha or
numeric, in upper or lower case. If you wish, any or all of the
description lines may be left blank.
START DATE -
This field describes the overall start date for the project. As
mentioned above, it is defaulted to the current system date, but
you may change this to any value you wish. The date provided
here will be used by AmiGantt to modify the calendar display on
the Main Screen -- re-setting the first calendar entries on the
left side of the screen starting with the project start date.
This field also interacts with the Calendar field below it, in
that a Daily Calendar will use the exact date provided as the
project start date; a Weekly Calendar will take the Start Date if
it's a Monday, or move it to the previous Monday; and a Monthly
Calendar will move the Project Start Date to the first of the
month for display purposes.
The entry in this field is input in standard YYYYMMDD format where
YYYY is the four digit year, such as 1988; MM is the two digit
number of the month, such as 07 for July; and DD is the two digit
number for the day of the month, such as 29. (It was done this way
to make it easier for AmiGantt to do sorting and comparisons).
Only numeric values are accepted in each of the fields and the
date is validated to make sure it is a real date (i.e. not the
31st of February).
CALENDAR -
This field specifies the type of calendar entries the project
will use. If 'D' for Daily is selected, the project accounting
and record keeping will provide for input on particular days and
all displays and reports will provide daily information. If 'W'
for Weekly is selected, AmiGantt will deal with project tasks and
entries on a weekly basis, with the smallest valid time unit being 1
week. As you might expect, the 'M' Monthly calendar provides for
AmiGantt looking at the project from a monthly perspective.
After the user has made the appropriate changes, he should select the
OK gadget in the lower left of the window to make the modifications to
the project header. If he decides not to make changes at this time,
he should select the CANCEL gadget in the lower right of the window to
return to the Main Screen.
NOTE -- The user can also move from field to field in the Header
Modification window by pressing the RETURN key. However, pressing
RETURN after the Calendar field will have the same effect as selecting
the OK gadget.
2.4 Adding Tasks
After the project header information has been updated to set up the
global environment for the project, the next step is to start adding
the individual tasks that make up the project. AmiGantt has been
designed to let the user work in a top-down manner in defining the
project -- setting out the major tasks to be accomplished, then
providing finer and finer detail of sub-tasks to be completed.
AmiGantt works on an 'insert-previous' mode for determining the
placement of tasks. While the user does not have to specify the number
of the task (AmiGantt handles this automatically), the current task
block (see section 2.1) is important in determining where the task will
be added.
When adding a task to a project, the user should position the current
task block over one of the tasks shown at the left of the screen.
If the block is positioned on a line with no existing entry (i.e. the
description shown to the right of the number is blank) and Add Task is
selected, then AmiGantt will insert the task at the number shown on
that line. If, on the other hand, the block is positioned on a line
with an existing entry and Add Task is selected, the the task will be
inserted before the existing task entry. (Actually, the new task will
be added at the task number on that line and all others after it will
be pushed down one line, giving them task numbers one larger, but the
apparent effect is that of inserting before the current task).
Once a task number has been highlighted and Add Task has been selected,
AmiGantt will present the Add Task window, where the user may fill in
the pertinent information about the task.
If the user decides that he did not really want to add a task at this
time, selecting the CANCEL gadget at the bottom right of the window
will return him to the Main Screen.
DESCRIPTION -
The Task Description field is an alpha-numeric field of 30
characters in which a short description of the nature of the task
can be provided. Although only the first 20 or so characters of
this description will be shown on the Main Screen, all reports
will show the entire description. The user may input any
information in this field. IT IS STRONGLY URGED THAT SOME SORT OF
NON-BLANK DESCRIPTION BE PROVIDED FOR EACH VALID TASK.
START DATE -
As with the Project Start Date described in the 'Adding the Project
Header' section of this manual, the task start date defines an
absolute starting date for the task. It is in the same YYYYMMDD
format and is validated for things like a month number of 13, days
beyond 31, etc.
In the case of the Task Start Date though, leaving the date field
blank has a special meaning. It allows the task to 'float', with its
actual start date changing, depending upon other tasks or the Project
Start Date. If a task is specified with a blank start date and it is
not dependent on any other tasks, then the actual start date of the
task will float with the Project Start Date. That is, the task start
date will be assumed to be the same as the Project Start Date and will
change automatically with any changes made to the Project Start Date
via the Modify Project Header selection.
If a blank Task Start Date is specified and this task is dependent on
other tasks (i.e. it cannot start until other tasks have been
completed) then the actual start date of the task will float with the
completion of the other dependent tasks. So, if Task 2 (which we are
working on) is dependent on Task 1 (meaning Task 2 can't start until
Task 1 is completed), then Task 2's starting date will become the day,
or week, or month -- depending on the project calendar -- after
Task 1 is scheduled to complete. If we change Task 1's start date or
duration, then Task 2's start date will be automatically updated.
END DATE -
As with the START DATE field, entries here should be in the same
YYYMMDD format. Values for this field need not be supplied unless
you want to set an absolute 'must finish by' date for this task.
AmiGantt will interpret this field to be the latest possible end
date for the task. When displaying this task in the Gantt chart
this entry will also be used to determine if there is any 'float
time' between the starting date of the task, plus its duration,
and the end date supplied. If there is excess, AmiGantt will
display this 'float' period as a set of dots on the Gantt Chart.
Leaving this field blank simply means that the end date for the
task will be determined by the start date plus the duration. Any
changes in the start date (due to task dependencies, etc.) will be
automatically reflected in a new end-date for the task.
DURATION -
This field specifies the length of time it will take to complete the
task. The units of time for this field will depend upon the selection
made for the Project Calendar type in the Header Fields. (See
Section 2.3).
Two fields are provided for duration here -- the Planned
duration, which is what you thought it would take, and the Actual
duration, which is what it did take. Normally, in the project
definition mode where you are adding new tasks, only the Planned
duration would be defined. The Actual would be left at 000 until
that task had been completed.
The DURATION field is numeric only and will not accept negative
numbers.
A project task with a Planned duration of 0, no start or end
date and no dependencies has a special meaning in AmiGantt. It
denotes a 'header line' placed in the Gantt chart just to make things
more readable, separate groups of tasks, or provide additional
explanation.
If a Dependency is supplied for a task with duration = 0, this
tells AmiGantt that this is a Milestone. It is recorded in the
Gantt Chart by an asterisk (*).
DEPENDS ON -
In this field, the user describes any other tasks that must
be completed before this task may start. In other words, that
this task's start date is dependent on. Up to ten other tasks may
be defined in this way and their task numbers should be placed in
the DEPENDS ON field, separated by spaces or commas. (e.g. 8 9 10
or 8,9,10)
Version 3.0.0 of AmiGantt and above support 'calculated dependencies'.
In this case, you can specify that at task will begin 3 days after
the end of another task. Or 2 months before the start of another
task. To implement this feature, you simply append a '+' or a '-'
sign directly after the dependent task number, followed immediately by
the number of units (days, weeks, or months.) The '+' sign means that
the units following are added to the end of the dependent task and
the '-' sign signifies time before the task start date.
(5+14 = 14 days after the end of task 5
17-2 = 2 months before the start of 17.)
As mentioned in the Start Date field above, if the Task Start
Date is left blank and dependent tasks are defined in the
DEPENDS ON field then AmiGantt will look at each of the
dependent tasks -- find out which has the latest end date -- then set
the actual start date of this task to the next day, week, or
month after that ending date. As far as the user will see, the
task will still show a start date of blank but it will 'float'
depending upon the start dates and durations of the dependent
tasks. The beauty of connecting tasks together this way is that
if one task is changed, or the project start date is updated,
AmiGantt will manage and modify all the connections of tasks and
adjust project schedule accordingly.
RESOURCES -
The fields below the DEPENDS ON field allow the user to specify
up to 10 resources (typically people doing the project) that are
assigned to this task and the cost, on a per-unit-of-time basis,
for each.
The Title fields (right below the RESOURCES: description) are 15
characters long, will accept any alphanumeric characters, and can
be used to provide peoples names, initials, or job descriptions.
The Cost fields to the right of the Title fields, are numeric
only. They will accept up to two decimal places and even
negative numbers (if using someone or something can actually
reduce the project cost). The '$' sign is unnecessary and
invalid for this field.
Any or all of these fields may be left blank. Cost fields which
are left blank are assumed to be 0.00
To the right of the Cost fields is a single character field marked
'F/V'. This field is used to indicate if the cost for a particular
resource is Fixed or Variable. If the default value of 'V' is left
in this field, then the cost of the resource is Variable and will be
multiplied by the task duration to determine the real cost. If an 'F'
is placed in this field to specify that the cost is fixed, then there
will be no calculation and the cost is assumed to be that set value, no
matter how long the project_duration.
After the appropriate values have been supplied for each of the fields,
the user should select the OK Gadget in the lower left of the window to
add the task to the project. If the user changes his mind about adding
the task, the CANCEL gadget in the lower right of the window may be
selected to return to the Main Screen without effecting any changes.
As with the Modify Header window, the user may move from field to field
down the screen by pressing the RETURN key once he/she has finished
putting the desired value in the field. Pressing RETURN while the
cursor is in the last Cost field will have the same effect as selecting
the OK gadget at the bottom left of the window.
Task Types
There are three types of tasks which may be defined in an AmiGantt
project: HEADERS, MILESTONES, and 'regular' TASKS
HEADERS
...are entries made into the project schedule to separate groups of
tasks or as explanatory notes. They have no effect on the project
schedule and are descriptive only. To insert a HEADER entry, the
Description field should be filled in with the desired information.
All the other fields (such as Start and End Dates, Depends on,
Duration, and Resources) should be left blank.
MILESTONES
...are tasks which record the occurrence of a particular event on
a particular date. Typically, they are goals to be strived for.
To define a MILESTONE, the Description field should be filled in
with appropriate text, the Start Date field may have the desired
target date filled in, and the End Date and Duration fields should be
left blank. As of Version 3.00.00 of AmiGantt, you can set the
Milestone task to be dependent upon the completion of other tasks.
You may fill in Resources if you wish, but these will not be included
in any of AmiGantt's reports.
AmiGantt will display MILESTONES on the Gantt Chart with an
asterisk (*) at the appropriate day.
'Regular' TASKS
...are defined in the normal manner, as described in the Add Task
section above. They define tasks to be completed in the project
and have durations, dependencies (maybe), resources, start dates and
end dates. However, the start and end dates may be implied by the
dependencies. (So you don't fill them in)
Thus, to summarize...
HEADERS -- descriptive only
-- no start date, end date, dependencies or duration
MILESTONES
-- description and start date (or dependencies)
-- no duration
Regular TASK
-- description and duration as minimum
-- start date may float by leaving it blank
-- if end date is left blank, it is calculated based
on start date + duration
-- dependencies may be used to determine start date
-- if dependencies are left blank, start date is assumed
to be the same as project start date
-- if a start date is provided, it is assumed to be the
earliest start date for the task
-- if an end date is provided, it is assumed to be the
latest end date for the task
-- differences between start date + duration and end
date will be shown as a 'float' period
2.4.1 Adding Another Project as a Task
AmiGantt provides a way in which other projects may be added as
sub-projects to the project you are working on. In other words,
another entire project becomes a 'task' of the master project you are
currently defining.
To define this sub-project, the user would set the current task block
at the desired position and select Add Task to display the Add Task
window as described in the previous section.
In the DESCRIPTION field, instead of putting some text about the task
to be completed, the user should put in two slashes ('//') right at
the left-most edge of the field, followed by the volume, directory(ies)
file name, and extensions of the previously saved project file, in
normal AmigaDOS format.
Thus the format of the description line should be --
//volume:directory/file.extension
E.g. if there is another project file I want to add as a sub-project in
file 42X in directory RNDPROJ on volume FRODO, the description line
should look like --
//frodo:rndproj/42x
Note that the entry is case-independent (as is normal for AmigaDOS
convention), i.e. it doesn't matter if you type in upper or lower case
letters.
Although you can specify a start date if you wish to tie it to a
particular date, this field and the rest may be left blank. When the
entry is added, AmiGantt will examine that project file determine the
starting date and duration of the entire project and copy all the
resources from the project file (up to the 10 maximum for a task) into
this task entry.
If the start of this sub-project is dependent upon completion of other
tasks or sub-projects, these task numbers should be filled into the
DEPENDS ON field before selecting the OK gadget to add the task.
2.4 Modifying Tasks
We all make mistakes or change our mind about something, so if the
information within a particular task needs to be altered, or possibly
an actual duration needs to be added, the user may position the current
task block over the task he wishes to change and select Modify Task
from the Task Menu. After doing so, AmiGantt will present the Modify
Task window.
Note that this looks very similar to the Add Task screen mentioned
previously, with all the fields in the task modifiable. The difference
here will be that the various fields will display the existing values
for that task and the window name at the top left corner of the window
will specify the MOD Entry action.
Keeping in mind the same restrictions on data types for each of the
fields as was mentioned in the Add Tasks section of this document, the
user may modify the contents of any field in the task. Values of
fields may be set to zero or blank by simply erasing the value in the
field.
Once the appropriate fields have been changed, select the OK gadget in the
bottom left of the window to record the changes to the task. AmiGantt will
then update the task, and update the complete project schedule with the
new information.
Note, that if changes are made to the project dependencies, it could
take a second or two for AmiGantt to rearrange all the pointers and
reset the various floating start dates. AmiGantt will tell you it is
working on these pointers, etc. by changing the mouse pointer to a
picture of a wristwatch. This signifies a 'Please Wait' condition and
the user should wait until the pointer resumes it's normal shape
before proceeding.
If you decide that you didn't really want to change this task, simply
select the CANCEL gadget in the lower right of the window to return to
the Main Screen without effecting any changes.
2.5 Deleting Tasks
Tasks can be removed from the project by positioning the current task
block over the task to be removed and selecting Delete Task from the
Task Menu. When Delete Task is selected, AmiGantt will present the
user with the Delete Task window. (Which looks suspiciously similar to
the Add Task and Modify Task windows).
If the user decides this is, indeed, the task he wishes to delete, he
should select the OK gadget in the bottom left of the window to confirm
the removal. If he decides otherwise, selecting the CANCEL gadget in the
lower right will return him to the Main Screen with no changes.
Once a task has been deleted, AmiGantt will go through all the other
tasks in the project and remove any dependencies upon the deleted
tasks. If another task was dependent only upon the deleted task, then
its dependency will revert to the project start date. Since all the
tasks after the deleted tasks are automatically renumbered, AmiGantt
will also examine tasks after the deleted task to adjust their
dependencies.
2.6 Saving the Project (Save Project or Save As Project)
Once the project has been completely defined and all the tasks have
been entered, it would be wise to save the project to a permanent
storage file on disk. Then, the project may be retrieved for update
at a later time or included as part of a bigger project, as outlined
in section 2.4.1.
To save the contents of the project to disk, the user selects either
Save or Save As from the Project Menu. For a new project, the user
should select the Save As option which will allow him/her to create a
new file and supply a name for the project file. If the project was
loaded from a previously created file, the Save option may be selected
to overwrite the file with the new changes.
Assuming we are creating a new project and the Save As option is
selected, AmiGantt will display a file requestor window in which the
user may either select an existing file or provide the name of a new
file to be created.
The requestor supplied in version 3.00.00 of AmiGantt and above is
produced by the ARP (AmigaDos Replacement Program) library functions
attached to AmiGantt and includes some new features not normally found
on file requestors.
The list of files shown defaults to the current directory from
which AmiGantt was run. As before, the filenames may be selected
by clicking on them with the left mouse button. The scroll bar
at the right of the requestor box will move through the sorted
filename entries. Once the filename you wish is displayed, you may
click on it, then on the OK box to select it.
One of the added features of the ARP requestor is the ability to
change the list to display the available devices by pressing the
right mouse button. Then you may navigate through the directories
of any device simply by clicking (with the left mouse button) on
the directory shown. You can return back up one level by
clicking on the 'Parent' button or redisplay the list of devices
by re-pressing the right mouse button.
In Save As mode, the filename box of the requestor is auto-selected
so you can begin typing in the name for your new file as soon as
the requestor appears -- instead of waiting for it to complete
the display of the directory.
The user should supply the name of the file, directory, and volume he
wishes to save the project in. It's a good idea to use a suggestive
name for the project file name, since it will then make it easier to
remember for later retrieval and will make more sense if the file is
included as a sub-project to some other, larger project.
Naming conventions for project files follow the standard AmigaDOS file
conventions. Once the appropriate information has been supplied the
user selects the OK gadget to write the project out to the file. If a
file by that name already exists, AmiGantt will notify the user and
give him a chance to decide whether he wishes to overwrite the existing
file or not.
If the user wants to overwrite the existing file, he should select the OK
gadget in the lower left of the requestor box. AmiGantt will then
erase the contents of the existing file and replace them with the new
project file.
If instead, he wishes to keep the existing file and provide a new file
name for the project, he should select the CANCEL gadget in the lower
right of the requestor box. AmiGantt will then return to the main
screen, without making any changes.
AmiGantt -- Project Management Software
3.0 Printing a Project
3.1 Printing a Screen
From the Main Screen, the contents of a displayed screen can be dumped
out to the user's default printer device (PRT:) by selecting Screen
from the Print menu. After selecting this option, AmiGantt will
display the PIP (Printing in Progress) pointer and a graphic dump of
the screen on display will be sent to the printer. Due to the manner
in which AmigaDOS accomplishes this dump, the user should avoid making
changes to the screen while the printout is proceeding.
As mentioned earlier, if the user has selected output to a file,
instead of the printer, AmiGantt will generate IFF files of each of
the windows open at the time the request is made. The files created
will have suffixes of _gantt.iff, _pert.iff, and _resource.iff added
to the file name supplied. As it is saving each of the windows,
AmiGantt will bring the window to the front of the display to let the
user know what is going on.
3.2 Printing the Project
Printing out the contents of an entire project via screen dumps would
not be the most economical nor useful method of seeing the project as
a whole, so AmiGantt provides a Project Print function which will
provide a number of different reports about the project. Included in
these reports are the following --
a) GANTT chart
b) Task List and Summary
c) Resource Summary
d) Resource Histogram
e) Pert chart
Each of these reports are discussed in more detail below.
To generate these reports, the user selects Project from the Print
Menu. AmiGantt will change the mouse pointer to the PIP (Printing in
Progress) picture while it is generating the reports. It will return
to the 'normal' pointer when the report is completed. Version 3.00.00
and above of AmiGantt will then check the Preference settings for your
printer to determine if they are suitable for the reports. They
should be set at:
a) 15 pitch, if you have narrow tractor paper
b) a left margin of 8 or less
and c) a right margin of at least 140
If any of these are not correct, AmiGantt will present a
requestor asking if you wish to have AmiGantt send the correct
sequences to the printer to set it up. If you select OK, AmiGantt
will use the driver selected in Preferences to send the appropriate
escape sequences to set the pitch and the right margin.
At any time during the printing of the reports, the user may stop
the printing by pressing the ESC key on the keyboard. If the
printer has a large data buffer though, the printout may continue
for a short time after the ESC key has been pressed.
For the Gantt Chart, Pert Chart and Resource Histogram, two types of
printout are available -- selected by the Type option of the Print
menu. The GRAPHIC option, which is the default, provides high quality
bit-map grpahic printouts on printers that can support this output.
It uses the graphics options of the printer driver specified in the
Preferences program (such as graphic density and orientation). Note,
AmiGantt creates only black and white output. It does not produce
colour printouts.
The second option is the TEXTUAL, which produces ASCII-character based
representations of the Gantt, Pert, and Resource charts (much as in
earlier versions of AmiGantt. This option should be selected if your
printer does not support bitmap graphics printing.
3.2.1 Gantt Chart
As outlined in the Introduction section of this manual, AmiGantt
was designed around the Gantt Chart model in order to provide a simple,
top-down interface in the definition and management of projects. The
main screen interface and printouts of AmiGantt are simplified Gantt
Chart representations.
On the Gantt Charts, tasks are displayed using an extended shaded bar
to show the start date and duration of the task. 'Float' periods
between the last day of the duration and a 'latest end date'
established when the task was added, are shown by a hollow bar
positioned after the duration bar.
Milestones are shown on the chart using asterisks (*).
Actual Durations of tasks are shown using a filled bar, printed over
the planned shaded bar.
In the report printouts provided by AmiGantt, the Gantt chart will
show the entire project (or as much of it as possible) on a single
page. If the project should go beyond either 60 tasks (the vertical
limit) or dates shown on the printout calendar (depends on the type
of project calendar) then AmiGantt will generate a new page of
printout to cover the next portion of tasks or calendar. These extra
pages are generated in such a way so that the entire project can be
'glued together' into one master sheet by attaching additional date
sheets to the right of the first page and task sheets to the bottom
of the first page.
On the Gantt Chart, project task numbers are shown on the left side,
followed by the complete description. The task start date and duration
are then plotted on the project calendar. Those tasks which are not
completed (no actual duration provided) are shown in light arrows.
Completed tasks are shown as dark blocks.
An example of the Gantt Chart printout is provided in section 5.0 of
this manual.
3.2.2 Task List & Summary
The next report prepared by the project printout function is the
detail task list and summary.
The detail task list shows every task that has been defined for the
project and all information provided for each task. This report
should be used mainly to verify input and dependencies.
The task summary report provides a shorter, less detailed look at the
tasks in the project with additional information regarding planned and
actual costs of the tasks and the entire project.
Beside each task description, the start and end dates of the task are
shown. If the dates shown are for actual start and end (i.e. actual
duration has been provided), an '(A)' will be placed beside each of
the dates. If they are planned start and end, a '(P)' will be placed
beside each date.
Next to the start and end dates for each task is the planned and
actual cost of each task. The numbers presented here are calculated
by AmiGantt from the planned and actual durations and the costs for
each of the resources identified for each task. These Plan and Actual
Costs for the tasks are totalled at the bottom of the page. An example
of the task detail list and task summary are provided in section 5.0
of this manual.
3.2.3 Resource Summary
The AmiGantt printouts also provide a resource summary listing which
shows all of the resources that have been committed to the project,
the planned and actual time commitment of each of those resources,
and the planned and actual costs of the resources during the duration
of the project.
AmiGantt generates this listing by examining each task in the project
and collecting information on each resource defined. The cost
information is gathered by collecting the cost for each resource in a
task and multiplying it by the planned and actual duration of the task.
At the bottom of the page, the total commitment and costs for the
project are totalled for comparison with the total costs provided on
the Task Summary report mentioned earlier.
3.2.4 Resource Histogram
The Resource Histogram produced by AmiGantt is useful in determining
when resources will be required for various stages of the project and
when double-ups occur on a given resource. Frequently, when defining a
project, it is difficult to see when a given person or physical piece
of hardware is expected to be in two places at the same time. The
Resource Histogram, with its overall view of the project from a time
vs. resource basis, quickly shows these inconsistencies.
An example of the Resource Histogram produced by AmiGantt is shown in
section 5.0.
AmiGantt -- Project Management Software
4.0 Modifying Existing Projects
4.1 Loading the Project
As mentioned in section 2.1, once a project has been defined and saved,
it can be easily retrieved for modification or update by selecting the
Load option from the Project Menu. Once this option has been selected,
a file requestor will be presented to allow the user to select and/or
define the name of the project file to be loaded.
In this requestor, the user should fill in the file name, directory,
and volume on which a previously defined project file has been stored.
The user should fill in the appropriate information, then select the
OK gadget to request loading of the project. As mentioned before,
this requestor is generated by the ARP library and hence has the
additional capability of displaying a list of all devices by pressing
the right mouse button. The user may then navigate the directories of
any device using the left mouse button and the scroll bar.
AmiGantt will check for the existence of the file and if it is not
found will present an error message and give the user another chance
to define the project file.
If the file does exist, AmiGantt will also check the internal
structure of the file to determine if it is, indeed, a AmiGantt file.
If it is not, the user will be notified via an error message and given
the opportunity to define another file.
If the user wishes not to load a project file, or cannot find the
existing project file, then he can select the CANCEL gadget from the
file requestor to return to the Main Screen.
After successfully defining an existing AmiGantt file and selecting
the OK gadget, AmiGantt will read the file, load in all the tasks, and
return the user to the Main Screen which has been updated with the
first 20 tasks and their calendar mappings. At the same time,
AmiGantt will also load the previously defined header information and
will change its calendar display to match the header entry.
At this point, the user is free to change the project as desired or
produce printouts of the project.
4.2 Modifying the Header Information
Once an existing project has been loaded, the user may choose to
change any or all of the information in the tasks or to add new tasks.
He may also wish to change any of the information in the Project
Header. As mentioned in section 2.3, the project header information
may be accessed by selecting the Modify Header option on the Task Menu.
In the case of 'loaded' projects, this screen will now display the
header information provided when the project was created or last
modified. The user may choose to change any of the information in
this header, and select the OK gadget to record the changes.
If the user changes the project calendar, a message will be presented
at the top of the screen, asking if the project tasks should be
converted to the new base.
If the user selects the NO gadget at the lower right of the requestor
box, AmiGantt will change the project calendar, the calendar display
on the Main Screen, and assume that all duration entries in the tasks
should be converted directly to the new calendar base. In other words,
if the previous calendar base was D for Daily, and the user changes
the project calendar to M for monthly and says NO to the conversion,
then a task duration that was originally 2 days will become 2 months.
Similarly, a task resource that used to have a cost of $100 per day,
will now have a cost of $100 per month.
Selecting the OK gadget will cause AmiGantt to convert the task
durations from the original calendar base to the new calendar base
using the rules outlined below.
4.2.1 Conversion of Costs/Durations
Original Base New Base Conversion Factor
------------- -------- --------------------
Daily Weekly Divide duration by 5
Multiply cost by 5
Daily Monthly Divide duration by 22
Multiply cost by 22
Weekly Daily Multiply duration by 5
Divide cost by 5
Weekly Monthly Divide duration by 4
Multiply cost by 4
Monthly Daily Multiply duration by 22
Divide cost by 22
5.0 Enhancements to version 2.02.00 of AmiGantt
and known anomolies
5.1 Enhancements
a) The file structure used to store AmiGantt project information has been
expanded. This unfortunately means that projects created with version
1.01.00 or 1.01.01 of AmiGantt cannot be used in AmiGantt 2.01.00 and
above.
b) AmiGantt 2.02.00 now has an option under the Misc Menu to determine if
project icons should be created under 'Save' or 'Save As' or not.
c) AmiGantt 2.02.00 will not crash if arp.library is not in the LIBS:
directory. If ARP is not available, a plain vanilla file requestor is
substituted for the ARP requestor.
d) All the 'Not Ready Yet' window code has been removed. Features not
implemented are now 'ghosted' on the menus.
e) The Gantt Window will now size itself properly to any screen dimension
(interlace, non-interlace, MoreRows, etc.) and any default system font.
The Resource Window may still have some problems though, if the font is
not 8 point.
f) A new sort option, Critical Path, has been added. In this option,
AmiGantt will examine all the tasks in the project, determine those that
are on the Critical Path (going from start to end and taking the longest
time) and will rearrange those to be shown at the top of the list.
g) The right and left cursor keys will now scroll the Gantt Window display
forward and backward one week at a time.
h) Thanks to a new feature of Blink from Lattice, the 'stdout' window
created when running from Workbench has been eliminated.
i) A new menu item has been added, MISC, which contains an entry for turning
on and off the creation of icons for Save Project.
Known Anomolies
